Twenty-three years ago, Mohammed Shahid, a resident of Blachanda village in Bihar’s Araria district, was returning from work when some kids threw colour at him. This was during dhrukel, a holi-like festival. In a fit of rage, Shahid thrashed a few of them, knowing little then that the minor brawl would lead to a life-altering ordeal for him. A mob gathered, tied his hands, and poked an acid-filled needle into his left eye. In November 2014, the same attackers targeted his right eye, this time rendering him completely blind.
A mason by profession, Shahid says the brutal act lasted almost 15 minutes. Coughing and gasping for breath, he begged the mob to spare him, even as a few onlookers cheered over his agony. Taking legal recourse barely helped, as the police held him responsible for the act. “Instead of filing a case against the attackers, they charged me with it. They were bought out,” he says. Shahid is still awaiting trial in the first case, which was filed more than two decades ago.
Shahid’s story is one among many included in journalist-turned-filmmaker Amitabh Parashar’s disturbing documentary The Eyes of Darkness , which won a special mention this year at the 64th National Film Awards. The film follows up on extreme cases of violence that have been reported in the media over the past few years—of ordinary citizens blinding their adversaries through planned acid attacks.
The Bhagalpur story
The film was inspired by the Bhagalpur blindings of 1980 and 1981, known as ‘Operation Gangajal’, where police officials poured acid into the eyes of 33 undertrials and convicts over a period of several months in a horrific show of extra-judicial punishment. It was this incident that also inspired the 2003 Prakash Jha thriller Gangaajal that, in its own curious way, whitewashed the heinous act.
“What most people don’t know is that these acts of brutality did not end with the Bhagalpur incident. They exist even today. Before a month passes, one hears of one such incident taking place somewhere in Bihar. In 2017 alone, there have been four such cases,” says Parashar who has witnessed one that is “etched in his mind forever”.
“I was in school when I saw a man lying under a tree near the police station of Naugachia town. There was blood oozing from his eyes. The man was screaming for help. He was one of the 33 victims of police excess,” the former journalist says.
He was too bold
In 2013, while on a visit to Aurahi Hingna, the birthplace of the renowned writer Phanishwar Nath Renu, Parashar met Munna Thakur, a ‘history-sheeter’, who eventually became the protagonist of his documentary. He had gone to meet the late writer’s family when his son informed him of a recent incident where two men were blinded with acid. The victims were Munna Thakur and his friend Kanhaiya Thakur.
On December 23, 2012, acid was poured into Munna’s eyes, allegedly by an upper-caste family of the village “for his boldness”. Munna’s only fault was to have supported his wife in contesting the village panchayat election. As he delved deeper, Parashar realised that this was by no means the only case.
The documentary highlights the struggle that Munna Thakur and his family undergo everyday. The government compensation is yet to come. His mother, the prime witness in the case, was brutally attacked for refusing to withdraw the case.
Munna’s son is scared to go to school as one of the assailants is a teacher there. “I should not have left crime,” says Munna. “When I was a criminal, people and politicians held me in high regard; they used to call me Munna Bhai. When I left crime, they threw acid in my eyes.”
Caste trigger
Eventually, everything boils down to caste. As Patna-based social scientist Shaibal Gupta says: “Munna Thakur’s decision to make his wife contest elections was a rebellious statement and he was punished for it. The unofficial law is that the upper castes will traumatise the backward classes and continue to dominate.”
In most cases, the triggers for these heinous acts are shockingly trivial. A 10-year-old girl was blinded by a farm owner and his son for plucking a pea pod. Ranjit Sada, a Dalit labourer, was blinded for demanding his due wage of ₹50. A 24-year-old farmer from Madhepura was blinded for an extra-marital affair. “The targets are mostly from backward and lower castes; invariably poor, some petty criminals,” says Parashar, adding that the authorities are aware of the brutalities but choose to look the other way.
In The Eyes of Darkness , the filmmaker revisits some of the victims of ‘Operation Gangajal’. Bhola Chaudhary, one of the 33 victims, now gets ₹750 as monthly compensation. Lawyer and activist R.K. Mishra, who worked pro bono for the Bhagalpur victims for 37 years, is still fighting for justice for Munna Thakur.
Bhagalpur was the first time in Indian legal history that victims were given monetary compensation, even though the amount, set at ₹500, is the same even today. Of the 33 victims, 22 are alive, most still awaiting the reparation. Meanwhile, the perpetrators roam free.
Sayoni Sinha is a Mumbai-based freelance journalist who writes on films, food and everything in between. Her hobbies include breakfast, lunch and dinner.
